The Afghan on the Floor

You hear that the two Presidential candidates are in synch on the importance of leaving Afghanistan, although Mr. Romney is hesitant about setting an absolute exit date. You may have heard that the Taliban are talking with us again, and our military leaders are busy spreading rumors of recent successes. You may also have read about the uptick in Taliban attacks, particularly from the Haqqani network, the spate of new IED and suicide bombings, and I have already blogged on the rather stunning attack on an air force base that took out six U.S. Harrier Jets parked by a runway. Further, with the increase of local Afghans in their own army turning on fellow NATO troops – the so-called “green on blue” attacks – we’ve also been told that Afghan forces will no longer be included as a part of NATO ground forces on a strike mission. You read about how our infrastructure projects – that effort to modernize and rebuild Afghanistan – is a total bust having wasted billions and billions of dollars. Huh?

Any semblance of success we may be able to claim when we leave Afghanistan… whenever that might be… will indeed be measured by whether or not some form of democratically-elected government will be in power for any significant length of time after we depart. Right now, the mega-corrupt Hamid Karzai “democratically-elected” regime – which holds sway over Kabul and environs but little else – is the only serious alternative to Taliban rule. Oh, I’m sure there are a few warlords in the wings, hoping to expand their power beyond local strongholds, but across this desolate and mountainous land, it’s basically Karzai and the T-men squaring off… and when NATO forces leave, there are few bets that the Karzai crew will be the survivors.

With heavy Taliban infiltration into the mainstream Afghan Army, that organization is wobbling and swaying just to keep afloat. NATO troops are no longer training the recruits these days, fearing the “green on blue” thang. But when we leave, it’s that army that will be left to oppose Taliban domination. And if it is indeed that army, I suspect the Taliban will be back very, very quickly. “Now at its biggest size yet, 195,000 soldiers, the Afghan Army is so plagued with desertions and low re-enlistment rates that it has to replace a third of its entire force every year, officials say.” New York Times, October 15^th.

That a corrupt regime maintains a corrupt military, perhaps siphoning off valuable supplies and financial support to feed the pigs slorpping at the corruption trough, cannot come as any surprise to the NATO leadership that is constantly embarrassed at the brazen cronyism and payoffs that define the Karzai regime. “The Afghan deserters complain of corruption among their officers, poor food and equipment, indifferent medical care, Taliban intimidation of their families and, probably most troublingly, a lack of belief in the army’s ability to fight the insurgents after the American military withdraws…

“Colonel Stanikzai, a senior official at the army’s National Recruiting Center, is on the front line of that effort; in the six months through September, he and his team of 17 interviewers have rejected 962 applicants, he said. [That’s all?!]… ‘There are drug traffickers who want to use our units for their business, enemy infiltrators who want to raise problems, jailbirds who can’t find any other job,’ he said. During the same period, however, 30,000 applicants were approved… ‘Recruitment, it’s like a machine,’ he said. ‘If you stopped, it would collapse.’

“Despite the challenges, so far the Afghan recruiting process is not only on track, but actually ahead of schedule. Afghanistan’s army reached its full authorized strength in June, three months early, though there are still no units that American trainers consider able to operate entirely without NATO assistance.” NY Times. Yep, I surely would count on those soldiers to… ah… keep up the “good work” when the Americans leave. I have yet to have anyone from either the Republican or the Democratic party come up with a good explanation of why our forces are still in Afghanistan, when there isn’t the slightest evidence that any of our policies or strategies in that country have worked or have the tiniest chance of working when we leave. Every time I hear about another American soldier dying, I wince. Please, please, face facts. It has been time to leave for the longest time!

I’m Peter Dekom, and why Americans really hate truth and hard facts remains unfathomable to me.

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